


PANACEA

by Mikkeneko



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Healing Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-14 21:25:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9203774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mikkeneko/pseuds/Mikkeneko
Summary: Fighting bad guys is a tough, dirty, exhausting business. At the end of a hard day, Anders does what he can to make his friends feel better.





	

**Author's Note:**

> One of my Tumblr pieces I'm crossposting over, this one inspired by [this piece of art.](http://heartbleats.tumblr.com/post/125603608768)

Sometimes Anders wonders why he ever became a healer in the first place. It’s an always difficult, often messily unpleasant, frequently thankless job; it’s not terribly useful for defending yourself in a pinch; and in the unspoken hierarchy of prestige among the magic schools, creationism ranks right down there at the bottom. Oh, it’s handy in a fight – handy for  _other_  people, not for himself, and there’s something singularly depressing about patching up his friends only to watch them fling themselves right back in harm’s way immediately after, over and over and over again.

Just once in a while, he’d like them to  _stay healed._

But then you get nights like this one, curled up in a small hollow in the ground with a gnarled tree spread above them providing shelter. It’s been a hard day for all of them – chasing slavers on the Wounded Coast and running into Tal-Vashoth instead, which never fails to be brutal even when they win. Their wounds have all been mended but healing alone can’t erase the fatigue, the exhaustion both mental and physical, the deep ache that lingers in the bones. Anders knows with a healer’s sure sense that it’s as much in the mind as it is the body, memories of pain and brutality leaving ghosts of pain that can never fully be soothed.

Or maybe they can.

Anders lights up his healing aura – not the frenzied, intense bolt of magic that comes in a combat healing situation, nor even the ripping tide of restorative energy that he unleashes when they’re all really, really deeply in trouble – but something more subtle, more gentle. There’s no flash of light, no roar of mana, and he waits for his friends to notice.

Merrill is the first to move, absently scooting sideways around the fire until she’s sitting next to his knee. That’s no surprise; Merrill is a mage herself, and more sensitive to such things. Hawke is next; he’s walking around the small camp to dig something out of their packs, runs a hand over Anders’ shoulder in passing, and doesn’t move away afterwards. Anders says nothing, and tries to hide a smile as the two of them slowly migrate closer and closer into his personal space.

Finally Isabela gives a loud sigh, stands up from her place on her bedroll and comes around the fire to flop down on his other side. “Well, if you’re having an orgy over here, don’t leave me out of it,” she says indignantly.

“Oh, we’re not,” Merrill protests. “I mean… not that kind of orgy. Maybe a cuddle-orgy? An orgy of snuggles? Is that a thing?”

“We could make it a thing,” Hawke says, nuzzling into Anders’ shoulder with a happy sigh. “Mmm, feels good. Do you have any idea how good it feels? Just to be near you?”

“You may have mentioned it once or twice,” Anders murmurs, no longer even trying to hide his smile. “….or possibly every single time.”

“Well, you do,” Hawke says, pushing his face into the side of Anders’ neck and snuffling like his mabari. “Don’t ever stop.”

Hawke is solid and reassuring against his side; Isabela’s warm and soft against his thigh, her black curls a treasure trove of softness over his lap. Merrill feels like a wild bird perched against his knee, light and fragile and infinitely precious, and he is so, so glad he is able to keep them all safe, today and every other day. He is helping; he is  _useful;_  he is not alone.

On nights like this one, Anders knows  _exactly_  why he became a healer in the first place.

~end.


End file.
